The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday called for the release of Ales Bialiatski, a Belarusian human rights defender and Nobel Peace Prize laureate arrested in Belarus for tax evasion.
“Our message is to ask the Belarusian authorities to release Bialiatski and we hope that this will happen and that he can come to Oslo and receive the prize,” said Berit Reiss-Andersen, chairman of the Nobel committee. But there are thousands of political prisoners in Belarus, and I’m afraid that my wish is unrealistic,” he said.
The committee also stated that the Peace Prize was not against Putin, but urged him to stop the crackdown on activists.
Nobel story
The Nobel Prizes were born out of the will of the Swedish industrialist and sage Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), the inventor of dynamite, to bequeath most of his fortune to those who work for a “better world”. He is remembered as the patron of art, science and peace, who turned nitroglycerin into gold before he died on the threshold of the 20th century.
Nobel, who patented more than 350 products during his lifetime, also invented rubber and synthetic leather.
In his will signed in Paris in 1895, a year before his death in San Remo (Italy), he decided that the majority of his wealth – estimated at more than 31 million Swedish crowns – would be turned into a fund that would award prizes. if he has bestowed the greatest benefits on humanity.”
It also identified different committees that award the awards each year: a committee of five members specially elected by the Swedish Academy of Letters, the Karolinska Medical Institute, the Royal Swedish Academy of Physical and Chemical Sciences and the Norwegian Peace Parliament. .
How does the reward work? Nobel nominations begin a year before the winners are announced. Scholars, professors, academics, and winners of other editions submit their names for consideration by the Nobel Committee, which decides who actually gets nominated. It is not possible for a person to nominate himself for the election.
Honorary awards always take place on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death. Prize winners receive a diploma, a gold medal and some money.
source: Noticias
